US5864230A - Variation-compensated bias current generator - Google Patents
Variation-compensated bias current generator Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US5864230A US5864230A US08/884,725 US88472597A US5864230A US 5864230 A US5864230 A US 5864230A US 88472597 A US88472597 A US 88472597A US 5864230 A US5864230 A US 5864230A
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- current
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- transistor
- resistive device
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- G—PHYSICS
- G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
- G05F—SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
- G05F3/00—Non-retroactive systems for regulating electric variables by using an uncontrolled element, or an uncontrolled combination of elements, such element or such combination having self-regulating properties
- G05F3/02—Regulating voltage or current
- G05F3/08—Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc
- G05F3/10—Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics
- G05F3/16—Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics being semiconductor devices
- G05F3/20—Regulating voltage or current wherein the variable is dc using uncontrolled devices with non-linear characteristics being semiconductor devices using diode- transistor combinations
- G05F3/26—Current mirrors
- G05F3/262—Current mirrors using field-effect transistors only
Definitions
- the present invention relates to integrated circuits and more particularly to a variation-compensated bias current generator.
- FIG. 1 shows a bias current generator 100 that can be used in a current mirror circuit.
- a power supply (not shown) is coupled to a source lead 105 of a p-channel transistor 110.
- a gate lead 115 and a drain lead 120 of transistor 110 are coupled together via a lead 125.
- Transistor 110 functions as a diode in this arrangement.
- Drain lead 120 is coupled to a resistor 130, which is coupled to a reference voltage supply 140 via a lead 135.
- Current generator 100 operates by having a power supply voltage V DD applied to source lead 105. This causes a current I 110 through transistor 110 and a voltage drop V 110 across transistor 110. Since transistor 110 is in saturation, voltage drop V 110 will be a function of current I 110 . The voltage at node 145 (V 145 ) will be constant due to this voltage drop, and equal to V DD -V 110 .
- current generator 100 The operation of current generator 100 discussed above is ideal. In other words, variations in power supply voltage, temperature or the fabrication processes will cause current generator 100 to provide different current amounts. In particular, one disadvantage of current generator 100 is that the voltage from a power supply (e.g., V DD ), the temperature or the process variations can cause as much as a threefold change in the value of current I 110 . This can cause inconsistent and possibly erroneous operation of a circuit that utilizes current generator 100.
- V DD voltage from a power supply
- V DD the temperature or the process variations can cause as much as a threefold change in the value of current I 110 . This can cause inconsistent and possibly erroneous operation of a circuit that utilizes current generator 100.
- a device including current generator 100 may be used in an environment where the power supply voltage is susceptible to noise. This noise will alter the current provided by current generator 100. Also, that device may be used in applications where the ambient temperatures can be between minus 55° C. to positive 125° C. These temperature variations can cause a change in the current provided by current generator 100, which can have an adverse affect on device performance.
- a band gap circuit-based current source can be used to overcome this disadvantage.
- One such circuit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,611 to McIntyre entitled "CURRENT GENERATOR CIRCUIT FOR GENERATING SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT CURRENT.”
- the drawback to such current source is that it is a physically large circuit due to its use of many circuit elements. See FIG. 2 in the referenced patent. This is unacceptable since silicon area of integrated circuits is costly.
- the present invention meets this need.
- the present invention includes at least two variable-resistive devices, such as transistors, coupled to a resistive device, such as a resistor.
- the transistors are configured so that feedback voltage generated by respective currents of the transistors is applied to the gate of at least one of the transistors.
- the electrical characteristics of the other transistor changes proportionately greater than the characteristics of the one transistor.
- FIG. 1 is a schematic of a current source
- FIG. 2 is a schematic of an embodiment of a variation-compensated current source according to the present invention.
- FIG. 3 is a schematic of another embodiment of the variation-compensated current source according to the present invention.
- FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention.
- a variation-compensated bias current generator (VCBCG) 200 includes current generator 100 of FIG. 1.
- VCBCG 200 also includes a source lead 205 coupled to a source of a p-channel transistor 210.
- a gate and a drain of p-channel transistor 210 are coupled together at node 245 by a gate lead 215 and a drain lead 220.
- a source lead 225 is coupled to node 245 and a source of a p-channel transistor 230.
- a gate of transistor 230 is coupled to reference voltage supply 140 via a gate lead 235.
- a drain of p-channel transistor 230 is coupled to a resistor 250 via a lead 255.
- Resistor 250 is coupled to a node 275 via a lead 265.
- Node 275 is coupled to node 145 and resistor 130 as shown.
- the channel length of transistor 210 is a minimum compared to the non-minimum channel length of transistor 110.
- the effect of this minimum length is that transistor 210 will have greater changes in its electrical parameters or characteristics than transistor 110 when the power, temperature or process varies. In this manner, transistor 210 can compensate for the changes in the electrical parameters characteristics of transistor 110 due to those variations.
- current I 210 equals current I 230 .
- the current through resistor 130 equals I 110 +I 210 .
- the voltage at node 275 (V 275 ) then equals R 130 ⁇ (I 110 +I 210 ).
- Voltage V 275 is applied to the gate of transistor 110 through lead 125, which feedback maintains I 110 .
- the voltage at node 245 (V 245 ) equals V 275 +(I 210 ⁇ R 250 )+V 230 , where V 230 is the voltage drop caused by transistor 230. Since the gate of transistor 230 is coupled to ground, transistor 230 is "fully" turned on and will have a minimal voltage drop.
- the voltage V 245 is applied to the gate of transistor 210 to maintain current I 210 .
- transistor 210 since the electrical characteristics of transistor 210 change proportionately greater than the characteristics of transistor 110, current I 210 will decrease proportionately greater than current I 110 .
- the current through resistor 130 will change proportionately greater than the change in current I 110 . Accordingly, the voltage V 145 at node 145 will decrease proportionately more under the influence of current I 210 than if only current I 110 were supplied. Thus, the proportionately greater decreased voltage V 145 at node 145 will cause transistor 110 to turn on even harder, thus increasing current I 110 more than if current I 210 was not provided.
- variation-compensation block 290 in FIG. 2 includes transistors 210 and 230, and resistor 250
- transistor 210 can be used by itself to compensate for those variations.
- Transistor 230 is optional to provide an increased voltage at node 245.
- Resistor 250 is optionally included to compensate for characteristic variations of resistor 130. To this end, the electrical characteristics of resistor 250 preferably will change greater in proportion to variations than will the characteristics of resistor 130.
- variation-compensation block 290 provides a function that compensates for the electrical characteristic changes of transistor 110 caused by variations such as voltage, temperature or process. This is preferably accomplished by providing a device or circuitry in block 290 that changes electrical characteristics proportionately greater than transistor 110.
- FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
- a constant current sink 300 includes a resistor 310 coupled to a power supply (not shown) via a lead 305. Resistor 310 is also coupled to a node 320 via a lead 315. Node 320 is coupled to a drain of a n-channel transistor 330 via a lead 325. A gate of transistor 330 is coupled to the drain of transistor 330 via lead355. Lead 345 is coupled to a reference voltage supply 360 and the source of transistor 330.
- a variation-compensation block 390 includes a resistor 370 coupled to node 320 via a lead 375. Resistor 370 is also coupled to a drain of a transistor 380 via a lead 385. A gate of a n-channel transistor 380 is coupled to the power supply (not shown) via a lead 395. A source of transistor 380 is coupled to a drain of a transistor 398 via a lead 397. A gate and a drain of a n-channel transistor 398 are coupled together via lead 399. Lead 393 couples the source of transistor 398 to reference voltage supply 360.
- current sink 300 operates similarly to current generator 200 of FIG. 2.
- transistors 110, 210, 330 and 398 are current devices.
- transistors 110 and 210 are current sources.
- Transistors 330 and 398 are current sinks.
- transistors 110, 210, 330 and 398 function as voltage-controlled variable resistance devices.
- the preferred dimensions of transistor 110 are 10 ⁇ m/3 ⁇ m.
- the preferred dimensions of transistor 210 are 10 ⁇ m/0.6 ⁇ m.
- the preferred dimensions of transistor 230 are 1.5 ⁇ m/0.6 ⁇ m.
- the resistive values of resistors 130 and 250 are preferably 50 k ⁇ and 10 k ⁇ , respectively.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Nonlinear Science (AREA)
- Electromagnetism (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
- Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
- Control Of Electrical Variables (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims (12)
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US08/884,725 US5864230A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1997-06-30 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
US09/211,468 US6072306A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1998-12-14 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US08/884,725 US5864230A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1997-06-30 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
Related Child Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US09/211,468 Division US6072306A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1998-12-14 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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US5864230A true US5864230A (en) | 1999-01-26 |
Family
ID=25385248
Family Applications (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US08/884,725 Expired - Lifetime US5864230A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1997-06-30 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
US09/211,468 Expired - Lifetime US6072306A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1998-12-14 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
Family Applications After (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US09/211,468 Expired - Lifetime US6072306A (en) | 1997-06-30 | 1998-12-14 | Variation-compensated bias current generator |
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US (2) | US5864230A (en) |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20060164151A1 (en) * | 2004-11-25 | 2006-07-27 | Stmicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd. | Temperature compensated reference current generator |
US20100148855A1 (en) * | 2008-12-12 | 2010-06-17 | Mosys,Inc. | Constant Reference Cell Current Generator For Non-Volatile Memories |
CN109633405A (en) * | 2019-01-28 | 2019-04-16 | 山西大学 | A kind of junction temperature calibration and radiating subassembly capability evaluating device based on bias current precompensation |
Families Citing this family (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US6665339B1 (en) | 2001-03-19 | 2003-12-16 | Cisco Systems Wireless Networking (Australia) Pty. Limited | Method and apparatus for reducing oscillator pull in a CMOS wireless transceiver integrated circuit |
TW589796B (en) * | 2002-12-06 | 2004-06-01 | Airoha Tech Corp | An automatic adjustment system for source current and sink current mismatch |
US6833751B1 (en) * | 2003-04-29 | 2004-12-21 | National Semiconductor Corporation | Leakage compensation circuit |
Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4100478A (en) * | 1977-02-28 | 1978-07-11 | Burroughs Corporation | Monolithic regulator for CML devices |
US5180966A (en) * | 1990-08-22 | 1993-01-19 | Nec Corporation | Current mirror type constant current source circuit having less dependence upon supplied voltage |
US5488328A (en) * | 1993-10-20 | 1996-01-30 | Deutsche Aerospace Ag | Constant current source |
US5581174A (en) * | 1993-12-03 | 1996-12-03 | U.S. Philips Corporation | Band-gap reference current source with compensation for saturation current spread of bipolar transistors |
US5581209A (en) * | 1994-12-20 | 1996-12-03 | Sgs-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc. | Adjustable current source |
US5587655A (en) * | 1994-08-22 | 1996-12-24 | Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | Constant current circuit |
US5604427A (en) * | 1994-10-24 | 1997-02-18 | Nec Corporation | Current reference circuit using PTAT and inverse PTAT subcircuits |
US5629611A (en) * | 1994-08-26 | 1997-05-13 | Sgs-Thomson Microelectronics Limited | Current generator circuit for generating substantially constant current |
US5675243A (en) * | 1995-05-31 | 1997-10-07 | Motorola, Inc. | Voltage source device for low-voltage operation |
Family Cites Families (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
JPS567117A (en) * | 1979-06-29 | 1981-01-24 | Hitachi Ltd | Constant electric current circuit |
US5604467A (en) * | 1993-02-11 | 1997-02-18 | Benchmarg Microelectronics | Temperature compensated current source operable to drive a current controlled oscillator |
US5672962A (en) * | 1994-12-05 | 1997-09-30 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | Frequency compensated current output circuit with increased gain |
-
1997
- 1997-06-30 US US08/884,725 patent/US5864230A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1998
- 1998-12-14 US US09/211,468 patent/US6072306A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (9)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4100478A (en) * | 1977-02-28 | 1978-07-11 | Burroughs Corporation | Monolithic regulator for CML devices |
US5180966A (en) * | 1990-08-22 | 1993-01-19 | Nec Corporation | Current mirror type constant current source circuit having less dependence upon supplied voltage |
US5488328A (en) * | 1993-10-20 | 1996-01-30 | Deutsche Aerospace Ag | Constant current source |
US5581174A (en) * | 1993-12-03 | 1996-12-03 | U.S. Philips Corporation | Band-gap reference current source with compensation for saturation current spread of bipolar transistors |
US5587655A (en) * | 1994-08-22 | 1996-12-24 | Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | Constant current circuit |
US5629611A (en) * | 1994-08-26 | 1997-05-13 | Sgs-Thomson Microelectronics Limited | Current generator circuit for generating substantially constant current |
US5604427A (en) * | 1994-10-24 | 1997-02-18 | Nec Corporation | Current reference circuit using PTAT and inverse PTAT subcircuits |
US5581209A (en) * | 1994-12-20 | 1996-12-03 | Sgs-Thomson Microelectronics, Inc. | Adjustable current source |
US5675243A (en) * | 1995-05-31 | 1997-10-07 | Motorola, Inc. | Voltage source device for low-voltage operation |
Cited By (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20060164151A1 (en) * | 2004-11-25 | 2006-07-27 | Stmicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd. | Temperature compensated reference current generator |
EP1667004A3 (en) * | 2004-11-25 | 2007-01-03 | STMicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd | Temperature compensated reference current generator |
US7372316B2 (en) | 2004-11-25 | 2008-05-13 | Stmicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd. | Temperature compensated reference current generator |
US20100148855A1 (en) * | 2008-12-12 | 2010-06-17 | Mosys,Inc. | Constant Reference Cell Current Generator For Non-Volatile Memories |
US7944281B2 (en) * | 2008-12-12 | 2011-05-17 | Mosys, Inc. | Constant reference cell current generator for non-volatile memories |
CN109633405A (en) * | 2019-01-28 | 2019-04-16 | 山西大学 | A kind of junction temperature calibration and radiating subassembly capability evaluating device based on bias current precompensation |
CN109633405B (en) * | 2019-01-28 | 2020-11-10 | 山西大学 | Junction temperature calibration and heat dissipation assembly performance evaluation device based on bias current precompensation |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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US6072306A (en) | 2000-06-06 |
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